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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

2014 Season Review: Andre Drummond

Calling Andre Drummond a breath of fresh air when the Pistons season reached its most suffocating points is a major understatement. Not many franchises in the lottery this year had the consolation prize of a 20 year old, franchise Center to build on. After sliding to 9th in the 2012 NBA Draft over hilarious concerns about his work ethic, Drummond made quite a statement in his rookie season, flashing massive potential in somewhat limited playing time. By the end of his rookie year, Drummond was handed the starting role and found himself an All-Rookie Second team member. Entering his sophomore season, the question was whether or not he could maintain his absurd rebounding rates and efficient scoring in more minutes. It didn't take long for Drummond to prove that he wouldn't maintain those rates, but improve upon them. Drummond led the whole league in Offensive Rebounding Rate, and Total Rebounding Rate, while also finishing 2nd in the league in FG% and eFG%, and finishing in the top-15 in Def. Reb. Rate, BPG, PER, TS% and Offensive Rating. To make a long story short, Andre Drummond was impressive for any big man last season, let alone one who can't legally drink.

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PER

PPG

TS%

eFG%

BPG

TRB%

OR%

DR%

22.6

13.5

59.9%

62.3%

1.6

22.3%

17.5%

27.7%

This is the first stat chart in the whole series that doesn't make me want to be alone so I can sob softly. As mentioned above, Drummond is the league's best rebounder and also the best offensive rebounder. Everything else on his chart is also in the top-20 for the whole league. Drummond's 17.5 OR% led the league by over three percentage points, as Samuel Dalembert finished second at 14.4%. Drummond's mark of 17.5% is the highest the league's seen since Jayson Williams' 20.54% mark in the '97-'98 season. The only other player to have an Offensive Rebounding Rate above 17% before they turned 22 was Moses Malone (SOURCE). Similarly, Drummond is only matched by Malone for the same age criteria with regards to Total Rebounding Rate. Drummond's PER increased over last season, as did his TS%, eFG% and pretty much every other statistical category except for his block rate and Blocks/36 minutes. If you're looking for an area for improvement for Drummond, aside from the free throw line, this is where you'll find it.

via NBA.com

Not much really to take away from Drummond's shot chart. He was bad away from the basket in what little opportunities he had. The encouraging thing about this is that he didn't do things outside of his area of strength. He attempted close to 98% of his shots from the circle around the basket. I'm not sure who specifically this might be referring to, but there are other Pistons who could learn from that. Drummond's shot chart doesn't tell us much about his season scoring the ball, but the NBA's new stat profiles offer some insight into how he got the job done. Drummond was 19/35 (54.3%) on hook shot attempts, a number that was higher than I would have expected it to be. For reference, Drummond was only 2/9 (22.2%) on hook shot attempts as a rookie. While this is a small sample, I think you can assume Drummond's post game improved from his first season with the Pistons. Other evidence of this is that a smaller proportion of Drummond's made FGs where assisted this season. Drummond is a long way from being a go-to scoring option, but appears to be improving, based on the limited data available. This coming season should offer another reference point for his post game.

NOTABLE PLAYS

Props to Drummond for his one week relationship with Jennette McCurdy (probably not spelled right, don't care). Also, props shame on him for leaking racy pictures of her. Just wonderful disgraceful.

Drummond appeared to be the only player taking the Rising Stars Challenge seriously, and it paid off with a 30-point, 25-rebound performance and MVP honors. Check out the ball-handling skills in the last minute!

Highlights of real game action featuring lots of big dunks, blocks and nice displays of passing and other offensive skills. Hard not to see a limitless ceiling when you watch this.

OUTLOOK FOR NEXT YEAR

2014-15 Status: Not a player, just crushes a lot (Big Peeenguin, still got what ya lookin' for)

Where does Drummond go from being the best rebounder in the league? I would assume that his production on the glass will maybe level off a bit, or possibly make marginal gains. It's hard to grab a larger share of rebounds than he already is. Where he stands to make his biggest leap is scoring the ball. Can the Pistons run the occasional offensive set through Drummond? If he can find a go-to move (the jump hook looks promising), what's stopping Drummond from scoring 16 PPG or more? He's unstoppable on the offensive glass and is going to get a majority of his points that way regardless. If he can score on the block with his back to the basket too, good luck keeping him from taking over games. Other areas for improvement in the off-season are free throw shooting, overall defense and defending without fouling. From a modest Twitter search, it appears that Drummond spends his off-season time in Los Angeles and has been getting in workouts and pick-up games with other players. I'm expecting big things from Drummond next year, for obvious reasons.

2014 SEASON GRADE: A-

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